Horse-attaching device



(No Model.)

P. J. SHEPHARD. HORSE ATT AGHING DEVICE.

I Au 11,1891.

No. 457,568. Patent i I @l wom/veg/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS J. SH EPHARD, OF CONCORD, \VISCONSIN.

'HORSE-ATTACHING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,568, dated August 11, 1891.

Application filed February ll 1891. Serial No. 381,093- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS J. SHEPHARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Concord, in the county of Jefferson, and in the State of IVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Attaching Horses to Vehicles; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to devices for attaching horses to vehicles; and it consists in certain peculiar and novel features of construction and arrangement, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my device applied to a vehicleshaft; Fig. 2, a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a plan view, partly in section, on line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. ha detail of a cam forming part of my device, and Fig. 5 a face view of the same.

Referring to the drawings, I show a sleeve, preferably composed of two sections A B, and shaped to correspond with the contour of a vehicle-shaft. Projecting from the upper and lower edges or sides of the sections A B are cars C C D D, which are suitably connected together, as by screws, rivets, orbolts E,to form said sleeve. Each of the sections A B is provided at its inner upper edge adjacent to the projecting ears 0 D with a recess that when the sections are connected together in the manner above described, form the opening F, as shown in Fig. 3. Pivoted between said ears, as by one of the screws E, is a cam H, that coincides with and works within said opening F, and projecting from this cam H is a lever I, that terminates in a loop or eye J for attachment to a wire, cord, or other suitable device, (not shown,) it being intended that the latter shall extend back to come within reach of the driver. I prefer to provide the upper ears 0 D of the sections A B, respectively, with two or more openings G, to enable me to adjust the cam H, and thus use my device in connection with shafts of different thicknesses, this adjustment being accomplished by simply changing the location of the connecting-screw. The face K of the cam H is preferably corrugated, so as to get a better grip on the shaft, and thus prevent the device from twisting or having longitudinal play when the cam is in its locking position, as shown in Fig. 1. Projecting from the ears 0 O are eyes L L, respectively, the lower eye L being designed for engagement with the belly-strap of a harness, while the upper eye L is designed for engagement with the back-strap of the same. Projecting obliquely from the ends of the sleeve-section A are other eyes M M, the front eye M thereof being adapted to engage the traces, while the rear eye M is adapted to engage the breeching-straps of a harness.

The device being secured to the several straps of a harness, above named, it is slipped onto the shafts of a vehicle just about where the holdbacks in common practice would be, as shown in Fig. 1, the cam-lever I being on top, and by throwing the lever forward the cam H will swing upon its pivot E until the corrugated face K thereof'tightly grips the vehicle-shaft to thus complete the operation of hitching an animal to the vehicle, thereby doing away with the whiffletrees and holdbacks genepally employed, and at the same time greatly increasing the rapidity of attaching and detaching said animal and vehicle.

To detach the animal from the vehicle, all that is necessary to perform the operation is to throw the lever I backward, swinging with it the cam H, and thereby disengaging the face K thereof from the adjacent vehicleshaft, which permits thesleeve secured to the harness to be slipped from said shaft. In case of a runaway, should it be found desirable to detach the animal, a pull upon a strap or other suitable device (not shown) extending back from the loop or eye J of the lever I to within reach of the driver will throw the lever I backward, and thereby perform the same operation above described.

If found desirable, the eyes M M, projecting from the ends of the sleeve, may be dispensed with, and my device simply used as a holdback, in which instance the whiffletree and traces would be employed as usual.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A vehicle-shaft-engaging sleeve having an opening in its side and provided with har mess-attaching devices, in combination with a locking-cam arranged to work within the opening and impinge against the shaft, and suitable means for controlling said lockingcam, substantially as set forth.

2. A vehicle-shaft-engaging sleeve having an opening in its side and provided with harness-attaching devices, in combination with an adjustable lever-controlled cam arranged to work within the opening and impinge against the shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. A Vehicle-shaft-engaging sleeve having an opening in its side and provided with harness-attaching devices, ears projecting from each side of the opening, and a locking-cam pivoted intermediate of the ears to work within said opening and impinge against the shaft, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a sleeve designed to receive a vehicle-shaft and composed of two detachable sections, each of which has a recess in its inner upper edge, ears projecting from each side of the opening formed by the recesses in the sections, a lever-controlled cam pivoted intermediate of the ears to work within said opening and impinge against the shaft, an eye projecting from one of said ears and from the lower portion of said sleeve for engagement with the back and belly straps of aharness, and similar eyes projecting from the ends of one of the sleeve-sections for engagement with the traces and breechingstraps of the harness, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Oconomowoc, in the county of WVaukesha and State of Visconsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANCIS J. SHEPHARD.

Witnesses.

E. W. HALE, C. W. DERRE. 

